


Figment

by live_love_draw_anime



Series: Nursery Rhymes [2]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst and Feels, Gen, Kise-centric, Madness, We're All Mad Here, not a happy ending??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-04-23 11:37:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4875388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/live_love_draw_anime/pseuds/live_love_draw_anime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"A <em>cat</em>-tastrophe." </p>
<p>Kise grinned, his eyes reverting back to their glazed over, dull appearance. "I like cats," he mused to himself quietly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Figment

_'Rock-a-bye baby'_

.

.

.

"Do you know you're beautiful?" Kise murmured, stroking the soft blue teddy in his arms as he sat cross-legged on his bed. He ran his hands over a patch on the bear's back, the fur thin and threadbare as a result of constant petting. "Because you are," he whispered softly.

He loved Kurokocchi. He loved him so very much, more than anything else in the world. "I'm going to take care of you, Kurokocchi, just like you always took care of me."

He buried his face in Kuroko's fur, sighing deeply and contentedly into it. As long as he had Kurokocchi, he would be happy...

And just like that, unbidden tears filled his eyes as he remembered what he tried to forget, something so awfully dreadful that even his madness couldn't save him from it.

"Noooo..." Kise moaned, squeezing Kuroko to his chest. "I don't wanna...stoooop..." He sniffled, because happiness was a thing of the past in moments like these.

How he loved when his madness could just _take_ him, lift him up and carry him away from it all.

_'On the tree top'_

Because _madness_ was such a wonderful thing, he thought, tears sliding down his cheeks, though his eyes were vacant and his lips curved upwards in a permanent smile. Oh, it let him be free, it let anything be possible, _ah_ , how _wonderful--_

_"Kurokocchi,"_ Kise whispered, placing the bear on his face and allowing its soothing caress to soak up the tears. "Oh, hello Kurokocchi, would you like to stay for tea? I have sugar and milk, yes, sugar and milk, just the way you like it."

Kise paused for a moment, listening to the silence with Kuroko's mouth held to his ear. His face fell. "No sugar and milk? No _tea?_ You want _vanilla?"_

Kise's face changed to pure distress. He ran his hands through his hair, careful to set Kuroko down on the mattress of his bed. "But I have no vanilla! This is a disaster! An atrocity! A catastrophe! A--" he broke off midsentence, a strange look coming over his face.

"A _cat_ -tastrophe."

Kise grinned, his eyes reverting back to their glazed over, dull appearance. "I like cats," he mused to himself quietly.

\---

_'When the wind blows'_

Kise went everywhere with Kurokocchi. He carried him on his shoulders to the breakfast room in the morning, taking his usual place next to Aomine. He dipped Kuroko's paw into Aomine's cereal, to which the wheelchair-bound boy snapped and poured cornflakes on his head. In the end, Kagamicchi, the new worker, had to break them apart.

He took Kurokocchi with him when he walked with Kasamatsu-senpai outside in the gardens, and busily showed him every bluebell and butterfly, though Kurokocchi had surely seen them all.

"Look, Kurokocchi," he told him one day when he'd gone out alone, positioning the bear so he had a clear view of the wildflowers before him. "These are your favorite. You told me so, remember?"

_'The cradle will rock'_

Kuroko stared on approvingly as usual, and Kise hummed happily as he scooped him up and strolled down the stone path lined with rows of greenery. Flowers dipped in front of him from above, and Kise pushed his golden hair out of his eyes as he lifted Kurokocchi to take a closer look.

"They are beautiful," Kise decided. "Just like Kurokocchi!"

In that moment, _everything_ seemed beautiful. Sunlight filtered in through the dense foliage, the lattice walls and ceiling providing a checkered pattern of alternating light and darkness. The faint breeze stirred the plants ever so slightly, and butterflies flitted from flower to flower on soundless wings.

Kise watched them with the intensity of a small child, his eyes round and glowing. "I wonder if _you're_ a butterfly, Kurokocchi." he murmured to the bear. Then he laughed, as if realizing the oddity of his statement. "Of course not. Kurokocchi is Kurokocchi!"

He stood there in the center of the silence, blissful and at peace. It was so calm, so quiet, and so at peace, so utterly at peace, so _peaceful, just so peacefully peaceful--_

And then, the peacefulness was overwhelming, and the silence filled his head with unwelcome memories.

Kise groaned suddenly, clapping his hands to his ears and barely noticing that Kurokocchi fell from his hands, tumbling to the ground below. _"Kuuuuroookooocchiiii,"_ he hissed, drawing out the name as if in extreme pain.

_'When the bough breaks'_

_._

_._

_._

_"Kise-kun."_

_"Kurokocchi!" Kise's eyes lit up at the sight of his friend. "Hello, hello! Would you like some tea? Tea with milk and sugar? I have--"_

_Kuroko smiled serenely, lifting up a pale hand. Kise immediately fell quiet. The small, blue haired boy was the only one who could pacify him. "Thank you, Kise-kun, but I've already had my share with Akashi-kun. Why don't we take a walk in the garden instead?"_

_Kise nodded in delight, grabbing Kuroko and pulling him along to the exit of The Institute, where the huge, fenced-in garden lay. "Kurokocchi! I have something to show you!"_

_He skipped ahead to the roses, which were arranged in neat rows of the most spectacular colors; red, pink, white, yellow, lavender, and several mixed versions. "Aren't they amazing?"_

_Kuroko stopped next to him and studied the orderly array before him, a slight frown adorning his features. "Hmm."_

_Kise's face fell. "Don't you like them?" He asked hurriedly._

_Kuroko laughed softly and nodded, holding up a hand. "Don't get me wrong, they are very pretty. But they're much too orderly, too...man made, if you know what I mean."_

_Kise didn't, but he nodded anyway._

_"I prefer something more wild, untamed...like thoughts. Especially your thoughts, Kise-kun. Wildflowers." He led Kise to another section, where a disorderly mesh of varying sprouts competed with each other for space, each attempting to grow higher than its neighbor._

_For some reason, Kise liked the discord. It was so...natural. "My thoughts," he said happily, bending down to pluck a bloom. "Look Kurokocchi. I've picked a thought."_

_._

_._

_._

_'The cradle will fall'_

_"He's gone."_

_"Huh?" Kise stared dumbly at Aomine, not quite understanding what the boy was saying._

_Aomine shot him an irritated look, trying to push past him in his wheelchair. "You know what I mean. He's, you know, gone. His head stopped working."_

_"But...but...I was with him yesterday!" Kise cried. "His head was fine!"_

_Aomine sighed. "Move, Kise. Satsuki told me this morning. They already did that thing where they put him under the ground."_

_At that, Kise went limp, and Aomine eagerly took the opportunity to wheel around him down the hall._

_Kurokocchi was...gone? What was Aomine saying? Kurokocchi wasn't gone. How absurd._

_Kise slowly walked back to his room and pulled out the plush blue teddy Momoi-san had gotten him for his birthday. "You're not gone, Kurokocchi," he told the bear, a strange smile spreading up his face._

_"You're right here."_

_._

_._

_._

_'And down will fall baby'_

Kise gasped, jerking back to the real world (or was it?). Somehow, he'd ended up on the floor, his nails scrabbling the cement and...uh-oh, were those flowers lying all around him? He must have torn them up without being aware of it.

Slowly, he sat up, his breath coming in short bursts, his face sweaty, his hands clenching a fluffy ball of coarse cotton--

Kise's heart froze. He slowly looked down at his hands, dreading what he would see.

One hand clenched a palmful of cotton stuffing, the same stuffing that Kurokocchi's insides were made of, his _insides_ \--

And the other clutched the soft blue head of Kurokocchi, mercilessly torn from its body, tufts of cyan fur floating lazily in the soft breeze and cotton threads littering the ground.

He'd killed Kurokocchi.

.

.

.

_"His head stopped working."_

.

.

.

Kise stared, speechless and frozen, ice creeping through his veins and a cold fist squeezing his heart. He'd killed Kurokocchi.

Then he was running, running so fast through the garden, tearing down several overhanging vines in his haste to escape the horror, his hands still clenching the bear's head. He sped through the halls, ignoring Momoi-chan's frightened call of "Ki-chan, what's wrong?!"

He burst into his room, tortured noises escaping from his throat as he threw himself face-down onto his bed, only to roll onto his back and stare up into the sightless blue eyes of Kurokocchi, choked sobs ripping themselves from his throat in between hysterical breathing, and--

_Andandandandand._

_'Cradle and all.'_

.

.

.

_Rock-a-by baby_

_On the tree top,_

_When the wind blows_

_The cradle will rock._

_When the bough breaks,_

_The cradle will fall,_

_And down will fall baby_

_Cradle and all._

**Author's Note:**

> So this was kinda short, but the next one-shot will be Midorima-based and will be longer. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!!


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